In recent years, in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays, thinner and larger glass substrates have been used with the aim of upsizing, producing on a large scale, and reducing thickness. In addition, a method for applying an oriented film, which serves as a coated film, to the glass substrate by an ink jet printer has begun to be employed.
However, in the drying of the coated film, when the glass substrate has been supported by a fixed pin in a fixed position during the drying of the coated film, a temperature difference between the glass substrate and the abutment perimeter of the fixed pin causes the coated film to dry unevenly and pin traces to occur, thereby leading to a quality problem.
In order to prevent such uneven drying and pin traces, a drying furnace has been proposed (Patent Document 1). The drying furnace conducts the drying with a lower surface of the glass substrate supported alternately by a fixed pin and a lift pin, which moves up and down near the fixed pin.
Patent Document 1: JP No. 10-76211A
Even with such a configuration in which the drying is achieved with the lower surface of the glass substrate supported alternately by the fixed pin and the lift pin in different positions, the lower surface is merely supported at two points alternately, regardless of drying time of the coating liquid in the drying furnace. Thus, it is feared that both the fixed pin and the lift pin leave traces.
The present invention provides a drying furnace for the coated film by which the supporting pin is less likely to leave traces on the glass substrate during the drying.